THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 25, 1995 TAG: 9512230314
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: TALK OF THE TOWN
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines
Pat Robertson sold a big block of his stock in International Family Entertainment Inc. late last month for a tidy $2.35 million and change.
Robertson, chairman of the Virginia Beach-based company that owns The Family Channel, unloaded 125,000 of his roughly 533,000 Class B shares on Nov. 28. Price: $18.88 a share. Buyer: undisclosed.
An IFE senior executive called the sale a ``one-time shot. It has nothing to do with any kind of plan to sell stock over time.''
Gene Kapp, a spokesman for Robertson and Christian Broadcasting Network, which Robertson also chairs, said Robertson would not comment on what he plans to do with the proceeds of the stock sale.
Besides his Class B shares, Robertson also controls 2.5 million IFE Class A shares through a charitable trust. His son, IFE president Timothy B. Robertson, owns about 2.1 million Class A and Class B shares in the company. The Class A shares give the Robertsons extra voting power and lets them maintain voting control of the company.
On a dollars-invested basis, however, the single largest IFE shareholder is the Liberty Media, the programming unit of Tele-Communications Inc., the nation's largest cable TV operator. Assuming the conversion of some of its IFE notes to stock, Liberty owns 7.74 million Class C shares, or 20.3 percent of all shares outstanding.
Other big IFE shareholders: funds controlled by investor Mario Gabelli, 4.57 million shares, 12 percent; the Capital Group of mutual funds, 3.45 million shares, 9 percent; the Pat Robertson-chaired Regent University, 3.37 million shares, 8.8 percent; and CBN, 3.1 million shares, 8.1 percent. All of their holdings are in Class B shares.
Chamber chairs: Howard B. Waters is the new chairman of the Hampton-based Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce. The Newport News native, head of Waters Advertising Agency, succeeds C. Wayne Williamson of Virginia Power.
At the Norfolk-based Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, Gregory N. Stillman of the Hunton & Williams law firm in Norfolk was named chairman, succeeding N. Robert Kopecko Jr., who transferred to the Washington office of Ernst & Young.
Yo, boss: There's a lot of interest right now in starting new businesses. There are also some handy guides available with words of advice.
Virginia Beach-based Jackson Hewitt Tax Service has published a guide for those who are self employed or want to be. The 31-page Jackson Hewitt Self-Employment Guide is available free by calling 800-277-FAST.
The Federal Trade Commission publishes several employment brochures, including Job Ads, Job Scams and `900' Numbers, Work at Home Schemes and Telemarketing Fraud. Call 202-326-2222.
Speaking of start-ups: Kathy Semar has opened Semar's Desktop Publishing and Word Processing in Virginia Beach. Marilyn West of West Ventures of Newport News plans to launch My Ticket Out Of Town, a monthly travel newsletter devoted to Tidewater day trips and select distant destinations.
Hampton Roads happenings: Among the Virginia exhibitors at Medica, a medical industry trade show in Dusseldorf, Germany, was Clare Medical Inc. of Portsmouth.
Goldman & Associates of Norfolk was named public relations agency for Kitty Hawk Kites of Nags Head, a leading outfitter for adventure sports.
Hampton native Mike May is the general manager for the new Boston Market chicken restaurant on Hampton's Coliseum Blvd.
Joseph L. Caffrey of Sweet City International Inc. of Virginia Beach, a candy store franchisor, said Sweet City Express stands were opened in Blacksburg and Fairfax near Virginia Tech and George Mason U. respectively.
Employees of Greenbrier Chrysler-Plymouth, Greenbrier Oldsmobile, and Lynnhaven Lincoln-Mercury formed a holiday donation committee to give a party for needy kids.
Jim Murphey of Management Recruiters of Virginia Beach said MR participates in ConferView, a video conferencing network. It can unite people in 28 cities for interviews, depositions and meetings.
Incoming: While Paul S. Trible Jr. probably won't be able to walk on water, no doubt he won't have to walk in it. His salary as the new president of Christopher Newport University should afford a comfortable ride.
CNU set Trible's salary at $150,000 - exactly $36,621 more than outgoing president Anthony R. Santoro received. Trible will get $90,355 from the state and another $59,645 from the university's private foundation. Santoro drew the same state salary, while the foundation chipped in $23,024. Why the difference?
CNU figures Trible can use his connections as a former U.S. senator and lobbyist to raise money for, and the stature of, the Newport News school.
``When you're looking for a miracle worker, you've got to pay a miracle worker,'' said David L. Peeble, rector of CNU's Board of Visitors.
Air travel: Folks are wondering why there's so much more traffic in the tunnels between the Peninsula and the southside. Well, here's one of the reasons:
Thanks largely to the arrival of discount airline ValuJet, 34,899 passengers boarded or got off planes last month at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport, up 17.6 percent from November '94.
Passenger traffic slumped 19 percent in November at Norfolk International Airport, where boardings plummeted after Continental's CALite reduced fares ended.
Record breaker: The American Bankruptcy Institute predicts '96 bankruptcy filings will exceed 1 million for the first time. The previous record: '92's 971,517 bankruptcy filings.
``Consumers have added more debt this year than in any year since 1989,'' ABI said. ``Credit card delinquencies are at their highest level since the recession of 1991.''
In first- and second-quarter '95 first two quarter, filings soared 5.9 percent and 10.7 percent from the first two quarters in 1994.
Under cover: It covers 200 acres. It has more birdbaths than you'd care to count. And it's going under cover. Williamsburg Pottery, a favorite tourist haunt on the Peninsula, has begun constructing an 8,000-square-foot production building and a 16,000-square-foot display building.
``We've been selling everything (concrete) outside up until now,'' senior executive general manager Preston Smith said. `We will have all types of yard ornaments. And we'll have all types of fountains and ponds, so people can get what they need to have a little fish pond at home.''
Managed care: The number of patients paying for their prescriptions with insurance has increased by as much as 70 percent while pharmacy profits have been cut in half, said Virginia Commonwealth University pharmacy professor Norman Carroll.
``The higher the managed care business, the lower the gross profit,'' Carroll said.
Declining insurance reimbursements could push more pharmacies out of business, Carroll said. Between '89 and '94 in Virginia, 96 independents and 97 chain pharmacies disappeared, while 98 new pharmacies appeared in supermarkets and discount stores, a VCU study says. by CNB